ISTANBUL/ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan accused the West, Russia and Iran of all seeking to further their own interests in Syria and said on Wednesday he feared a US-Russian ceasefire plan would do little more than benefit President Bashar al-Assad.
NATO member Turkey has grown increasingly frustrated by the international response to Syria´s five-year-old war, incensed by a Russian intervention which has tipped the balance of power in favour of Ankara´s arch-enemy Assad and by US support for a Kurdish militia it sees as a hostile insurgent force.
"The West, the United States, Russia, Iran, the European Union and United Nations have unfortunately not managed to stand tall by the honor of humanity," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara broadcast live on television.
"On the contrary, all these countries, because of their own calculations, have permitted, directly or indirectly, the killing of nearly half a million innocent people by the regime and its backers," he said.
The United States and Russia announced plans on Monday for a cessation of hostilities in Syria to take effect starting on Saturday.
But rebels backed by Saudi Arabia and Turkey expressed doubts about the proposal, which excludes attacks by the Syrian army and its Russian backers on the jihadist groups Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.
Rebels fear Russia will use that as a pretext to bomb them.
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